This invention primarily relates to the field of two-way interactive entertainment systems typically provided over cable facilities to a user.
Two-way interactive cable television systems are known for transmitting entertainment, information and data signals over a cable facility toward a plurality of users. Home shopping, pay-per-view, and other services are provided via such systems where goods or services are ordered by a subscriber or user and a payment is accepted by the service provider. Typically, payment is arranged over a separate link such as a telephone line to the service provider.
Data may be transmitted and addressed to a particular subscriber of a cable television system over a separate data channel or a so-called "in-band" data channel. In this downstream direction, addressed control data may represent services authorized to a particular terminal or control commands to that terminal. In an upstream direction from a terminal to the service provider or system manager location, control data may represent selections made by a user in response to a polling request or at the time of user selection.
In some known cable television systems, the capability exists to provide a so-called teletext service in which screens of textual information may be provided to a user sequentially at a user's request. Also, a cable television terminal is known which comprises a graphics/text generator for composing text screens from data transmitted on a special channel or inserted in vertical blanking intervals of a video signal and transmitted over a television channel.
Outside of a cable television environment, stand-alone systems are known for hotels and restaurants in which transactions may be entered via remote terminals to be transferred to a central location where they are recorded. At time of check-out or bill payment, a bill may be tabulated at the central location and payment by credit card made without intervention of management personnel.
In a cable television system designed for installation in a hotel, a terminal is known which may report to the system manager short bursts of information such as room number when specifically requested. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,742 and 4,360,828 describe such a system in which, for example, a hotel room air conditioner may be controlled from the front desk; a maid may report on the room number of the hotel room currently being cleaned; or the television channel number currently being viewed by a hotel guests may be reported. The data is transmitted upstream over a 12 megahertz data carrier in short bursts and within a predetermined period of time after a polling request.
The above mentioned systems are configured to provide a limited number of services to the user; in most cases one or two service. Furthermore, some systems incorporate blocking networks, wherein sometimes an available input may not be connected to an available output. For example, if the system is being used to provide movie 1 to a user, a second user cannot request movie 2 because of the blocking architecture. It is apparent that a system with a blocking network cannot function as efficiently as a system with a non-blocking network.
In view of the above, a requirement exists in the art for an interactive system that provides a series of services to the user. Furthermore, a requirement exists for a system that implements a non-blocking network architecture which is able to provide a service on any available channel if the service is available. Finally, a requirement exists for a system with modular architecture for flexibility and economics.